There is a ‘great possibility’ DA might win ANC cadre deployment policy battle

The fight against the ANC’s cadre deployment policy was still ongoing in the High Court in Pretoria yesterday as the civil rights organisation AfriForum joined the battle.

AfriForum’s advocate Mark Oppenheimer and advocate Anton Katz for the Democratic Alliance (DA) presented submissions and arguments to Deputy Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba on potential challenges to the appointments of those already in office under the policy. They also called for the policy to be banned.

DA leader John Steenhuisen said he hoped the court would rule against the policy.

“It is illegal and it gives a clear directive that it’s unconstitutional and it cannot be the practise anymore,” he said.

Steenhuisen said South Africa could only build a capable civil service when the civil service, state-owned entities and government departments were staffed with qualified people who have been placed into those positions based on a not know-who but know-how basis.

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Public views

At the Union Buildings, people interviewed by The Citizen were also against the policy. Lindiwe Shokane said cadre deployment was wrong.

“It’s wrong because they choose people they recommend, it’s not fair,” she said.

Shokane said each party should have the opportunity to recommend candidates for top positions.

Another person interviewed, Nadia Visagie, said Eskom was an example of why cadre policies should be ruled unlawful.

“We shouldn’t just appoint the ANC to govern all public services and big enterprises. Things are not working, so we need to make a change,” she said.

Experts weighs in

North-West University‘s political analyst Dr Benjamin Rapanyane said cadre deployment forms part of the ANC’s official policy in government with the tripartite alliance.

“This policy comes out of the ANC’s cadre policy and deployment strategy with initial roots in the 1996 ANC-SACP’s [SA Communist Party] national democratic revolution guiding policy document in the new democratic dispensation,” he said.

Change racially skewed SA administration

Rapanyane said the policy was initially adopted to change the racially skewed South African public administration when blacks made up the majority of public servants in lower positions.

“The intention was to reclaim the South African public administration into the hands of black Africans. Over time, this policy has become a centre of severe criticism by most South Africans,” he said.

“Today, society believes that this policy has motivated large-scale corruption, as individuals associated with the struggle for democracy have been placed at the top echelons of state institutions to manipulate procurement and other processes to siphon off massive amounts of funds for a network of politicians, public servants and businesspeople.

“The initial idea or goal of cadre deployment was to bring institutions under the control of the party instead of the state; therefore, leading to internal competing interests surfacing with widespread corruption and theft by a network of corrupt cadres, whose party loyalty has been rewarded with jobs to milk the state of resources.”

Political analyst Piet Croucamp said chief justice Raymond Zondo to some extent had already expressed his doubt about the legality and constitutionality of cadre deployment as a strategy.

Croucamp said this was one of the worthy causes that the DA has pursued.

“There is a great possibility that they might succeed and it is one of those things that goes right to the heart of corruption in South Africa,” he said.

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